Dry skies return to North County

NORTH COUNTY —— The area's first storm of autumn blew out of the
county Tuesday after dropping inches of rain in some areas and
putting public safety personnel on alert.

"It's a done deal now," Stan Wasowski, a forecaster with the
National Weather Service, said Tuesday afternoon. "It's just making
its way to Arizona."

Some showers were expected to linger through Tuesday evening,
but the whole county will be dry today, Wasowski predicted.

Temperatures will in all likelihood remain slightly below what
they normally are this time of the year until next week, he
said.

Rainfall Monday in Ramona broke a record set last year with 0.38
of an inch, the highest amount recorded on Oct. 17 since the
weather service began monitoring the community in 1974. The
heaviest showers Tuesday were reported in the southwest corner of
the county.

Throughout North County, rainfall totals from 5 p.m. Saturday to
2 p.m. Tuesday ranged from 0.63 of an inch in Encinitas to 2.32
inches in Santa Ysabel, according to the weather service. Escondido
received 1.02 inches and Carlsbad got 0.94 of an inch during the
same time period. In Oceanside and San Marcos, 0.87 of an inch
fell.

Heavy rain Tuesday morning prompted a flood-control warning that
sent sheriff's deputies into the Paradise fire burn area and near
Lake Wohlford Road, checking for flooding, mudslides or rock
slides, sheriff's Lt. Dennis Brugos. No major problems were
found.

The weather service Tuesday afternoon canceled a flash-flood
watch it issued Sunday for county mountains and deserts.

Road crews worked 12-hour shifts for storm patrol in the San
Marcos-Elfin Forest, Fallbrook-Bonsall and Borrego Springs areas,
said Bill Polick, spokesman for the county Department of Public
Works.

Nothing significant was reported other than some flooding on
Country Club Drive in Harmony Grove, he said.

"Every time it rains, that happens," Polick said.

The county spends about $750,000 a year on routine maintenance
to prevent flooding problems, Polick said.

Public works departments in North County cities reported very
little flooding and no significant problems with city streets.

"I think we're doing fairly well," said Mike Mercereau, San
Marcos' public works director. "Although it has muddied things up a
bit … for the most part, things are in pretty good order."

No major traffic crashes were reported in North County during
the storm, though rain-slicked roads and poor visibility led to an
increase in the number of fender benders.

There were 68 collisions Tuesday between midnight and noon on
state highways and unincorporated areas patrolled by the California
Highway Patrol, the agency reported. CHP officers typically respond
to between 50 and 75 crashes on a normal, dry weekday.

The season is expected to be drier this year than last year,
Wasowski said. More than 22 inches of rain fell on most of the
county last weather year, making it the third-wettest year on
record. Weather years are calculated from July 1 to June 30.

Since 1850, when rainfall records were started in the area, more
than 20 inches of rain has never fallen two years in a row in the
county, Wasowski said.